


An Alarming Prospect

by not_my_century



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-02
Updated: 2014-11-02
Packaged: 2018-02-23 21:32:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2556482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/not_my_century/pseuds/not_my_century
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Solangelo college!AU oneshot. Nico is a freshman annoyed at having to live in a dorm; Will is his peppy sophomore RA. When the fire alarm goes off in the middle of the night, Nico narrowly avoids freezing to death and in the process makes a new friend. Fluff. May be continued if there's enough interest (from you guys OR me).</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Alarming Prospect

**Author's Note:**

> Also on [Tumblr.](http://aroacenoahczerny.tumblr.com/post/101564089560/solangelo-college-au-the-fire-alarm-went-off-at-3-am)

Nico was rudely awakened from a wonderful dream. Someone had been holding his hand, but he couldn’t see their face. It could have been one of his sisters, but the hand had felt decidedly masculine and he’d felt warm and happy and _safe_. And now there was an incessant shrilling in his ears and he had to put some shoes on and get outside. It was three— _three_ —thirty-five AM. How did anyone, no matter how idiotic, manage to set off a fire alarm at this hour?

He had quickly decided that dorm life was not for him. He’d been here for more than two months and that opinion still held. The only mitigating factor was that he’d managed to get a single somehow. His roommate had last-minute switched to another dorm, which was perfectly fine with Nico.

“You’ll never make friends if you immediately get an apartment on your own!” Bianca’s voice echoed in his ears.

“Who says I want to make friends?” he muttered, repeating what he’d said this time last year, and angrily shoved his feet into his beat-up old combat boots.

Still grumbling to himself and only about 18% awake, he mechanically grabbed his keys and stumbled down the stairs, nearly running into the tall guy in front of him a couple of times. He hadn’t bothered to learn many names, but he was pretty sure the guy lived across from him, which would make his name…. Jason? He didn’t say hi, though, instead making a beeline for the darkest possible corner of the little courtyard outside the dorm. This was considerably easy, seeing as the moon had gone behind a cloud and _everything_ was in shadow. In this light no one would notice the smudges under his eyes, which were about half yesterday’s eyeliner and half “it is _three_ in the _morning_.”

“Sorry, guys,” a sheepish voice called out. “I really wanted pancakes.”

It was Valdez. Go figure. The kid could set _air_ on fire. Sometimes Nico wondered if he was a firebender or something. He was pretty sure “I really wanted pancakes” was a euphemism for “I was playing with a lighter and set the curtains on fire.” Which would actually not be such a bad thing, considering the utter grossness of said curtains and of the dorm in general. Maybe if it burned down Bianca would let him get an apartment. But could he burn it down at a more reasonable hour?

Nico was pretty sure he’d be asleep standing up right now were it not for the cold. The wind had picked up and his threadbare MCR t-shirt that he’d had since 2007 and the ratty sweatpants that only came to just above his ankles were not providing any kind of protection. His bare feet slowly turned to ice inside his unlaced combat boots, and his hands, with nowhere to put them to warm them up, felt like he’d been holding a carton of ice cream for too long.

They’d been standing there for what felt like hours. With the last strength in his freezing fingers, he sent Bianca and Hazel a snapchat of the dismal crowd with a caption of “representative of my life rn….” According to his phone, less than two minutes had elapsed. It had to be lying. Were firemen even awake at this hour?

Suddenly something warm was being draped around his shoulders.

“Looks like you need it more than me,” a voice said. It took him a second to recognize it as belonging to Will, his obnoxiously cheerful RA. Just this once, he was willing to deal with the peppiness. Anything for a little warmth.

Without a pause, Will grabbed one of Nico’s hands between both of his and frowned, tilting his head to one side. The moon had started to come back out and the light fell in a diagonal line across his face, turning his blond hair a glowing white and making his features look almost ethereal.

Wow, he really must be tired because this guy had _grabbed_ his _hand_ and Nico had actually let that happen. He pulled his hand back as if it had been stung, wondering if it was just exhaustion that had given him that jolt of electricity.

“Relax,” said Will, a laugh in his voice. “I’m just trying to warm you up a little. Wouldn’t want you getting hypothermia right before midterms!”

Nico woke up just enough to be annoyed. “First of all, don’t touch me. I hate it when people touch me. And second, how are you so damn _cheerful_ right now?”

“I’m premed, so I have to get used to this sometime! Anyway, being an RA means I’m often up at this hour.” Will grinned—how was he making his face muscles do that at whatever the hell time it was now? At least, Nico _thought_ he was grinning. He was so tired that his eyes were starting to blur a little.

“Hey man, I know you don’t do physical contact, but you look like you’re about to fall over. Are you sure you don’t wanna lean on me for a little bit?”

Nico really, really wanted to say no, but his eyes were half-closed and the blanket was so warm and before he knew it his face had fallen into Will’s shoulder. He half-noticed that Will smelled nice, like oranges and cinnamon, and that he was really, really warm, and then there were arms around him and he was so tired and he drifted off.

He woke to his alarm at noon. This in itself was not unusual—he’d planned all his classes to start at one or later. He’d had a strange dream—there was a fire drill and someone was holding him, or maybe holding his hand, or was that a different dream? And why could he remember Will Solace’s face?

His phone had an unusual amount of notifications. Bianca and Hazel had both sent him snapchats, and both were sending him virtual hugs and telling him to get some sleep. In the dream, hadn’t he sent a snapchat? Wait, so that meant—

He paused in the middle of pulling up his jeans, his whole face reddening. That meant that his RA had actually carried him up the stairs, taken his keys, unlocked his door, taken his shoes off and put him into his bed. Sure enough, his keys were hung around the doorknob, where he never left them, and his shoes were neatly lined up beside his bed, which Normal Nico or 3AM Tired Nico would never have done.

There was even a yellow sticky note on his door. “Hope you got some sleep!! :)” it began. Ugh, two exclamation points and a smiley face? “Make sure you get enough rest. If you have to skip a class, that’s totally okay! I don’t want to be seeing you at the health center!” He’d signed his name with a messy scribble underneath.

Nico found himself smiling as he walked to class. Maybe he’d actually go to that floor-wide study party this weekend.

**Author's Note:**

> Bianca goes to a different school and Hazel's still in high school, FYI. Surprisingly enough, for something set right now, canon ages would be pretty much correct (Nico would be 18 in 2014, since HOO ends in 2010 according to my calculations).


End file.
